As processing demands have increased, computing systems have become both more complicated and interconnected. For example, a particular computing device may be partitioned into logical partitions, or “LPARs,” each of which includes a subset of the computing device's resources virtualized as a separate computer. Also, computing systems have become increasingly interconnected via various types of networks such as local area networks (LANs) and the Internet. This complexity and interconnectivity has created a number of issues related to computer security.
Provided are methods for monitoring a number of computing devices for security attacks. The disclosed techniques include, among other things, establishing a plurality of cryptographically secure channels, each channel between a monitoring device and a monitored device of a plurality of monitored devices, each monitored device of the plurality of monitored devices associated with unique address; transmitting a heartbeat from the monitoring device to a first monitored device of the plurality of monitored devices via a first secure channel, corresponding to the first monitored device, of the plurality of secure channels; if a response to the heartbeat is received, transmitting a second heartbeat from the monitoring device to a second monitored device of the plurality of monitor devices via the first secure channel; and if a response to the heartbeat is not received, executing a spoofing detection scheme, comprising: transmitting a second heartbeat to the first monitored device via an address associated with a second monitored device; receiving a response to the second heartbeat; and determining that a spoofing attack has occurred by the fact that the response to the second heartbeat has been received.
This summary is not intended as a comprehensive description of the claimed subject matter but, rather, is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the functionality associated therewith. Other systems, methods, functionality, features and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description.